Trends in suicide deaths before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in Korea

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273637
• Publication Date: 2022-09-12T17:25:46Z
• Authors: Seunghyong Ryu; Hee Jung Nam; Min Jhon; Ju-Yeon Lee; Jae-Min Kim; Sung-Wan Kim
• Keywords: Pandemic; 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

We investigated the effect of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on suicide trends in Korea via a time-series analysis. used Facebook Prophet to generate forecasting models based monthly numbers deaths between 1997 and 2018, validated by comparison with 2019 numbers, predicted suicides 2020. compared expected observed during COVID-19 pandemic. The total did not deviate from projections pre-pandemic period. However, number among women those under age 34 years significantly exceeded level. increase overall rate significantly. young people increased, suggesting that might drive more members these groups suicide. Further studies are needed verify long-term impact